Procedure and House Affairs Committee on March 21st, 2011

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Which is not suggesting all members.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Correct.

It's fine the way it is, in my view, if “members” remains, but “des membres” in French makes it clear, and in fact restricts it, according to what Mr. Reid has been arguing for 10 minutes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

We'll let Mr. Reid have one intervention on this.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Let's be clear on this and say “some members”. I agree that the change in French is very good. The change in English would be very helpful. Paragraph 29 begins by saying “Other members”. Saying “members” and then “Other members” is not as clear as “some members” and “Other members”.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

The suggestion by Madame DeBellefeuille was, in my term, “some members”.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

I am suggesting the word “des”.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

“Des”? Okay.

Yes, Mr. Albrecht.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Mr. Chair, at the risk of unnecessarily extending this, at the top of page 9 in the English version, in the fourth line down, I think to be consistent we should also have “some members”. Clearly we were of the impression that this binder contained all of the information that was required, so to say that “members stated” the binders did not comply I feel is inaccurate.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I recognize, Mr. Albrecht.... I'm sorry. I missed that one in my changes, so....

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Mr. Chair, we would support Madame DeBellefeuille's change in the French version because that actually circumscribes it to members, but we don't support inserting the word “some”. “Members” implies that a majority of members in this committee came to ground on both those fronts.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

On the same point, if I might...?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Yes, sure.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Look, this is clearly just a matter of drafting. A little further down in the English version, in the fifth line from the bottom, it states, “In that respect, some Committee members indicated that the time they had been given”, etc.

So the word “some” was used in some places and not in other places, but clearly, for precision, it should be used in all. Clearly it is not the case that all members were of this point of view, which is why it's necessary to say “Other members” in paragraph 29.

I'm suggesting what I think is a helpful proposal that just makes paragraph 28 consistent with itself. Remember that this was written in a great hurry. I'm sure, had they had a chance to go over it in more detail, the analysts would have caught the inconsistency and added the word “some” everywhere.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Madame DeBellefeuille, and then I'll go to Monsieur McGuinty.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

I cannot participate in the debate on what the right word is in English, but in French, towards the end of the paragraph, we would be able to read: “À cet égard, des membres du Comité ont dit estimer qu'on leur avait donné trop peu de temps...”. The term “des membres” works well there, and it also works in the first part of paragraph 28.

In English, find the translation that suits you, but in French, the wording “des membres” is consistent with our discussions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

So we're okay there en français.

Let's finish the English discussion, then.

Mr. McGuinty, you were next.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

We're on number 28, correct, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Yes, we're on 28.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

I propose leaving number 28 just as it is, as drafted, in English.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Mr. Reid.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Well, Mr. Chairman, I'm proposing an amendment that we include the word “some”. We can vote on the amendment.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Let's go to the amendment that we're adding the word “some” and vote on that first.

All those in favour of adding the word...?

I'm sorry, Monsieur Godin. I thought you were voting. Go ahead.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Chair, I think that, if we agree to use the wording “des membres du Comité ont dit”, we need to have an English translation. The document has to mean the same thing in both languages.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Okay. Which is...?

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I don't know. I'm not at the Supreme Court. I'm not an expert in translation.